Camp Cooking Tips

When done well, few meals taste better or satisfy more than those cooked at camp. Something about cooking the old fashioned way makes the entire experience – from food preparation to savoring your last bite – special. A real drawback, however, is that cooking at camp requires more time, patience, and ingenuity than kitchen cooking. Use the pointers below to help make cooking in the outdoors less daunting, and more fun.

Cooking Supplies

Regardless of what you specifically plan to cook on your next camping trip, there are a few food preparation staples that you shouldn’t forget. First and foremost is a box of matches and some lighter fluid. Most prefer to do their campsite cooking over an open fire, so you’d be out of luck without a way to start one. As for dishes, the true necessities are a medium to large lightweight pot, a pan of similar size, aluminum foil, and a portable grate that can be placed over a fire pit. This combination of cooking equipment can be used to prepare just about anything from bacon and eggs to beans and pasta. Lastly, don’t forget your spatula and tongs – pulling food off a fire bare-handed is far from pleasant.

Cooking Methods

Over the centuries, outdoor adventurers have come up with a number of ways to cook meals using a campfire. Of course, some are more complicated than others. Most camping trips, for instance, probably won’t require you to make a spit for roasting (unless you’re feeling a little overzealous). Read on as we detail a few of the simplest, most effective camp cooking techniques.

The most basic form of campfire cooking is to use direct heat. There are essentially two ways to accomplish this. The first, an old boy scouts’ trick, is to wrap food items individually in aluminum foil and place them in hot coals. It requires frequent checking, but is very effective for foods that require high heat. The second, method is simply to place a grate over an open fire and grill your food like you would in the backyard. The heat from this source is less direct, so it will likely take a little longer to cook.

For soups, stews, and pastas, you’ll need the aforementioned pots and pans in the supplies list. To cook them, just build the fire, let it die down to hot coals, and place the pot or pan over them. Managing the hot coal amount and concentration is the key to this technique, as heat can become inconsistent pretty quickly. The good news is that once you have that down, camp cooking is just about as easy as using a kitchen stove.

Some More Tips

Measure ingredients for each meal ahead of time and pack in ziplock bags. Label each bag accordingly.

Prepare soups, stews or chili etc ahead of time. Freeze and keep in cooler. Reheat for a quick meal.

Don’t forget the heavy duty aluminum foil. There are many uses for it at camp.

Be very careful with gas canisters. Keep upright at all times. Keep outside in well ventilated area. Check for leakage by putting soap liquid on all connections. Turn off when not in use.

Freeze meat before putting in cooler. Keeps other foods cold and will keep longer.

Cover pots whenever cooking outdoor. Food will get done quicker and you will save on fuel. Also helps keep dirt and insects out of your food.

For ease of clean up and to protect from smoke and fire damage, put liquid soap on outside of your pots and pans before putting over the fire.

Block ice will last longer than cubed ice.

All items in your cooler should be packed in watertight bags or containers.

To cook hamburgers more evenly throughout, put a hole in the middle of your hamburger about the size of your finger, during grilling the hole will disappear but the center will be cooked the same as the edges.

Fill gallon milk jugs or 2 liter soda bottles with water or juice and freeze. They keep the cooler cold and provide a cold beverage.

To remove odors from your cooler, wipe with a water and baking soda solution.

Use a separate cooler for drinks so not to open the food cooler too often.

Pack food items in separate ziplock bags. Saves space. Easy to pack. Resealable. Can use for trash container when empty.

Instead of “stick” or “tub” butter or margarine, try “squeeze” margarine. This squeeze bottle is much easier and cleaner to use when in the woods. It is also great for cooler temperature. If it gets too hard, simply place the bottle in a pot of warm water for a few minutes.

Cook on or over coals (either wood or charcoal). Coals provide a more steady, even heat without the smoke. Avoid burning your food and avoid undercooked food in the middle.

Heavy duty aluminum foil bags take up little room and are great for mixing vegetables and meats together for easy cooking and easy clean-up.

When barbecuing chicken, grill the chicken without the sauce until it is halfway cooked, then coat with sauce. The sauce won’t burn onto the chicken and your meal will be more flavorful.

To get your charcoal pieces ready quicker, use a charcoal chimney.

Disposable water bottles make great dispensers for salad dressings, oils and sauces.

Add a few ice cubes to aluminum foil dinners or vegetables packets to prevent them from burning and to keep them moist.

To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet or pan, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan and bring to a boil.

Use an old large coffee pot to heat up water for cooking, doing the dishes or for hot beverages.

Use a leather/suede work glove as an oven mitt.

Check out our summary of various types of home-made Fire Starters.

f you are truly into outdoor camping, invest in one of those airtight bag/sealing systems. Without air, bacteria doesn’t grow (as fast) and cold foods seem to keep better. Prepare individual servings in airtight bags so you only open what you need. For frozen items, individual servings defrost faster than large portions. Since the bags are reuseable, use them for your litter. They are also lighter than cans. Finally, the bags are thicker than other storage bags and will help cut down, if not eliminate, food odors. – Submitted by C. Berman

Use two or four large coffee cans filled with water and covered with heavy duty aluminum foil as grill holders. As your meals cook, water heats up for dishes or cleanup. Store in their own plastic bags to keep soot from other items. Fold plastic bags inside for storage along with roll of T.P. and other small camping items such as dishcloth, soap etc. – Submitted by Penny Drozd

Put a rope through the paper towel tube. Tie ends together. Loop over slat in picnic table or from a low limb – Submitted by Jo Ann Hlavac

Use an empty plastic jumbo liquid laundry soap jug to dispense “washwater” from the table, log, or rock. Fill with creek water and label “not for drinking”. The push button dispenser is great and the handle holds a towel.

Eat like a king with a dutch oven. Make pizza, lasagna, enchiladas–anything you’d bake in an oven. You’ll need tongs to handle the hot coals and a hammer or lid lifter. Five coals under and a lid full on top makes a 350 degree oven.

Freeze your own block ice in heavy duty ziplock freezer bags. Fill almost full, and freeze for a day or so in a chest freezer.

Always have a big heavy duty tarp and lashing cord handy. It doesn’t hurt to have a pole collection too. No need to wad and toss if it rains. Just rig up your roof and wait it out.

Fire danger high? No problem. Take a camp stove and a smokey joe bbq. Always have a bucket of water and shovel. The smokey joe will keep you warm after dinner and will not create sparks or ignite roots.

Bury your poo and toilet paper. Nobody wants to know what you did or where you did it! And don’t do it close to the creek.
Better yet take a porta potti.

If you are camping during insect season, hang those personal ‘clip on’ mosquito repellent in your tent (ours fits 8 people), and it works wonders by keeping the mosquitos away!! The refills last 12 hours and it uses AAA batteries!!

Take a pressure cooker when camping. It cooks meals in 10-12 mins, uses minimal amount of gas (only one element on lowest level once boiling has been achieved), the pot doubles as mixing bowl. No need for lots of pots with this. Meals are sensational & quick which is particularly good after a big day out. Scout around some second hand shops for one… I bought mine for $5 and now I use it at home when I have to prepare a meal last minute.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that we use a 10 quart stainless steel pressure cooker. It’s like having a micro wave along for speed cooking. We use it to cook dried beans, legumes, and other hard to cook items. We have used it for the past 7 years would never go camping without it.

Camping can be fun, and it can be a chore. Trying to keep meats cold if all you have is an ice chest and nowhere around to replenish the ice. Plus dealing with a bunch of soggy bread and meats got to be too much.
I gave up and did some research and found some long term food storage companies that don’t add chemicals and the food is good for 25 years.
I liked it so much we started buying and selling it on a regular basis, for disaster preparedness and easier camping.

Instead of taking eggs in the carton, crack them at home and put into a hard sided re-usable water bottle (like a nalgene). Prevents eggs breaking and ending up all over your cooler. Shake the bottle to break up the yolks and pour straight into a hot pan for scrambled eggs. If you don’t shake it up, you can pour them out yolk by yolk for sunnyside up (takes a little practice).

My friends and I are 11 (the outdoors boys)are going camping as soon as the blackberries bloom and are ready and I’m incharge of the cooking and food supplies and these are really good tips but could but foods on there like rice oatmeal beans the stuff u can add like rabbit or squeriels to caught on snare or any kind of meat would be very helpful.thank you

Hey all, Im going hiking and need some ideas. Im lactose intolerant and allergic to eggs so finding yummy hot breakfasts is a bit hard. I can have a tiny bit of milk or egg in like pancakes but not much! Help? Will be taking a jetboil with the main saucepan and a frypan. No cold food.?

Kymmie, I know your post was a year ago, but re. a lactose free hot breakfast, my favorites are instant oatmeal and grits. Both are easy. I’ll put the instant oatmeal in a baggie, add my own spices; cinnamon, allspice, brown sugar and also dried fruits like raisins, craisins, blueberries, etc. Then it’s easy to put into a bowl & just add hot water. As for the grits, I also pre-measure the grits & add the salt and put into a baggie, Then, just boil water, add, stir & voila – breakfast. Add toast & you’re good to go.

Also, got my first Dutch oven last year and it’s awesome! Don’t be intimidated – you won’t regret it. My first time I cooked a roast with vegetables and it turned out great. Used a liner, so as soon as we were done eating, I then made a peach cobbler in the same pot and oh man is that good! Add canned or frozen peaches (or any fruit) to the bottom, add a yellow cake mix that you’ve added the moisture to, bake and enjoy. Again, the Dutch oven liners make clean up extra easy.

Really you save my lot of times. I read the whole article and it clear my some confusion. Each time when I go for a camping i am very much tensed about camp cooking. But reading your article hope my next camping will rocks.

I am going to for a family camping next week & before that, I was looking for a camping cooking tips like this one. It will help me to enjoy my family camping & will save time. Thanks admin for this nice & informative writings.

OUR Scout troop is looking for ways to dispose of Cooking Oil and Used Grease while we are camping. Any suggestions on how to go about it. We could pour the oil in a container and bring it home what type of container would you suggest..or do you hae any better way.? Thanks